Feelin’ It!

So I got a title change for that last project and it flowed and I was happy with how it turned out.

My reward for being an adult? Coloring.

I used the stamp set Down by the Seaside by Inkadinkado. I went a little old school with embossing powders, but used a stamp aligning tool I have (that isn’t really meant for that, but works wonderfully) and markers to layer color on the stamp, then press it into the paper. My last layer of ink was a clear versamark. I applied clear embossing powder to the image and heated it up. If you’ve played with this before, you know it effectively masks the area you’ve covered, which in this card is everything I colored. This allowed me to sponge in the sky without messing up the coloring too much. After that, I embossed my greeting in white, then  finished assembling my card.

Hopefully you got to do something fun today, too.

Thanks for stopping by! XOXOXO

I’m Not Dead

But it has been a while since I posted.

In March we dropped off our three foster kids with their mom for the last time. It was bitter sweet. We’d spent thirteen months with them, but we helped a mom put her family back together.

We took a small break – my family so earned it – and May 29th welcomed a toddler and a teenager into the family. That makes six kids total now. We spent the summer getting to know each other better.

Now school’s back in session and there are finally moments (not many, but some) of quiet. There still doesn’t seem to be enough time for me to get done what I’d like though!

I kept trying to squeeze writing in. I’m about half way through a New Adult Adventure Romance kind of thing.

Because summer is the time to prepare for the MS ride we do in the fall, I missed out. It’s been hard this whole idea of not being able to do it all right now, but I’m coming to grips with it. The things I chose to do hold more importance. So, the ride is out for this year.

Hoping things will stabilize in a bit and I’ll find a way to get in everything I want to do 🙂

Happy back to school time!

Curioser and Curioser

Maybe I butchered that word…

But, tonight, I received an email from wordpress notifying me that I was following myself. Although I’ve wondered if such a thing were possible, I’ve never tried. Another odd thing, if I’m following myself, why don’t I show up in my follower list?

Not sure if I should be worried or not. My writer brain is spinning tales of different dimensions. Or doppelgangers.

Another part wonders if my security has been compromised, and then a very small part wonders if there’s just a hiccup in the system.

Any ideas?

Anyone else suddenly following themselves today?

PS – writer brain still going…

phantoms…time travel…computer consciousness…

 

Voices in My Head – AKA Another Book is Brewing

Yay! Another idea is taking shape in my head I and so far, there’s no paranormal/ sci-fi aspect. Weird. It’s an adventure. Doing research now and it feels great to be doing it again!

Off  to google earth, where some of the best research is done 🙂

Woot!

For the first time in a few months, I have a huge urge to jump back into writing. I’ve been so overwhelmed emotionally and physically on this new journey of ours that I just haven’t had the time or energy. Seven kids takes a lot out of a person. But then you factor in that three of mine are foster kids, that’s like having five more, instead of three, so in my head – which admittedly can be a very confusing place – that’s like having nine kids.

But, I’ve spent the last month or so rearranging things to try to free up a consistent amount of time, even though I really didn’t feel like writing. It’s paying off. The writer part of me is screaming to get out, and now, she’ll finally have time to play.

I’m Unsupervised…

The craziness of becoming a foster family hasn’t gone away. It’s just been dispersed differently.

We made the decision to enroll the kids in pre-school. I’m not sure about it, but decided to give it thirty days. I do miss the rascals. BUT it might be good for them (although there are now tears when I drop them off) and it might be good for me.

Paul wants me to keep some of my sanity, because really, it benefits us all. And in order to keep some of that sanity, I need to find a way to balance the needs of 7 kids, 3 of whom have only been here a few months, with keeping some parts of my identity.

First and foremost, I am a wife and mom. Those two titles come before everything else. They’re titles of service, and that services creates the fierce love I have for my family.

But I guess I’m not selfless enough. There’s more to my identity. In order to keep hold of the remaining sanity, I need some down time. Some time to develop newly discovered talents. I don’t want to give up on writing. Paul doesn’t want me to either – which is reason #2968 that I love him.

So kids in pre-school, this gives me time to work.

The hard part – there’s so much to choose from, I don’t know where to begin. Which means I may totally run amok while I figure it out 😀

Hello Multitasking!

First, multi-tasking  multitasking may or may not be hyphenated, obviously, I don’t know, so in the spirit of this post, I looked it up 🙂 It doesn’t. There. First issue taken care of.

It’s too cold/wet/icy/slushy etc for me to get out on my bike. A friend asked how I was doing with that. The answer is, not well. I spent a week or so acting like the big and growly bear I’d read about in one of my kid’s books. Not fun. For them or me 🙂

My husband, who can’t keep all of his awesomness to himself, signed our family up at our local community center. I went last week and oh my, what a difference! Unfortunately, my ankles object to running, so I have to take it easy. Hopefully, if I don’t over tax them at the start, they’ll get over themselves. So today, I forced myself to stay off the treadmill. I used the recumbent bike instead and brought my kindle 🙂

Last night, I had the foresight to load my current project onto that handy little device. So while my legs were turning those pedals and racking up miles, I was able to edit. I highlighted and left notes for myself that I can refer to when I pull the doc back up.

I felt kind of awesome – from the excercise and the multitasking.

Hope your day is full of awesome!

Reason 342 That I Love Us

Family is a big deal to me. We have four kids, but no spares. They’re all wonderful, and wonderfully unique. I love to see how their minds work. That being said, I may have to remind them to use their powers for good.

Pretty sure my two little kids will be plotting to take over the world soon. That’s the only explanation I have for their actions.

At this very minute, Dd11 is harvesting her DNA. I heard talk about injecting it into a squid so it will obey her every command.

Ds8 is beside her at the table going through his spy kit. They even skipped after school snacks to get right to the fun.

Add in the Russian accent from the other day, and this is really the only logical conclusion I can draw.

*scribbles on post it – remember to give children dessert*

I have to wonder if this is one of the side effects of living in a home where writing and books are constant friends. Here, anything is possible. Many of our dinner time discussions revolve around them saying things like, “mom, you should put_____in your book.”

I often find myself wondering what they’ll be when they grow up. Whether it’s taking over the world, or something less exciting, I hope they have fun with it.

Dang it!

According to Agatha Christie, I’ve been doing it wrong.

 

“The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes.” Agatha Christie

“You’re Grounded,” said the author to the story

I have a YA Paranormal that I’ve been developing since November 1st. I’ve tried to write it, but it feels forced. So I think I’m missing something somewhere. Regardless, it’s not cooperating, which can be frustrating.

Instead of banging my head against the wall and writing just to erase the words, I listened to a new idea in my head.

Have I mentioned before that showers are magical? Well, they are.

I have tons more plot on an idea that formed yesterday in the shower than I do for the idea I’ve spent the last month and a half working on.

I’ve shelved the current project for the time being. Hopefully, because I’m not obsessing over it, the missing piece will show up. In the mean time, I’ve got a story “talking” to me and I’m going to play with that one!

Take that high maintenance project! Feels like I’m grounding that project. I can hear myself saying–in my best mom voice– “Go to your room. When you can play nicely, you may join us again.”